Keen Adventure Race - Alps to the Ocean
Stage 2: Adventuresportnz power up the last big hill for a decided win for the day.
Jacqueline Windh / 09.04.2008
From the peak of the trail in the high country, where I left them at 1870 m, they rode down to the tiny village of Bogong, at 640 m. Along the way, they dropped their bikes for a big trekking loop following around two ridges, which was tough going, with lots of thick regrowth resulting the bushfires of recent years. I hear there were a few spills on the bikes along the descent.
I caught up with the teams in Bogong – most of them pretty scratched up from the bush – where they had to do an orienteering course around the little lake there, as well as undertake a high-ropes technical challenge. For the orienteering, they had to choose 15 of the 16 points on the map, and navigate through the lovely old-growth forest of stately gum trees with an understory of giant tree ferns, swim out to a tiny island, and boulder-hop up a rushing river. The ropes challenge involved climbing up a ladder, to then follow a course including a double-tightrope, working their way across a series of wooden swings, walking a log, then a single tight-rope, then ziplining back down to the forest floor.
SleepMonsters
